But there was this one moment. Monroe was with the Detroit Pistons then, sitting on the bench in a meaningless preseason game when Antetokounmpo got the ball just inside the free-throw line.

“He took one step and with no-dribble jumped off two feet and was just in the air higher than anybody,” Monroe said. “I had the perfect view from the bench. About three or four guys, all of them jumped, and he just stayed in the air longer than everybody and he just dunked it and I went, ‘Wow.’”

Just 22 years old, the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo already has become one of the NBA’s elite players. He’s second in the league in scoring (29.7 points) to Houston’s James Harden, tied for first with Harden in player efficiency rating (30.3), fourth in blocked shots (1.9) and 11th in rebounds (10.3).

Kobe Bryant thinks so highly of Antetokounmpo that in a series of tweets he challenged Antetokounmpo to win the Most Valuable Player Award this season. Monroe called him a “generational player.”

“He’s the real deal,” Monroe added. “He’s already a great player and he’s real young and from what I saw he’s not going to stop working. He’s going to be even better.”

And to think, the Suns could have had him.

Antetokounmpo was the 15th overall pick in the 2013 draft. Ten picks earlier, at No. 5, Phoenix selected center Alex Len. It may wind up being – if it’s not already – the basketball equivalent of the Cardinals taking tackle Levi Brown instead of running back Adrian Peterson in 2007.

The Suns weren’t the only team to whiff badly in that draft, though. Anthony Bennett, Cody Zeller, Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad were just a few of the others taken ahead of Antetokounmpo. Scouts knew Antetokounmpo was athletically gifted - he has a 7-foot-3 wingspan and a vertical reach of 12 feet, 2 inches - but wondered how he would make the jump from playing in Greece to the NBA.

“He’s still raw in many perspectives,” one scouting report said.

What they didn’t know – what Monroe learned later – was Antetokounmpo's insatiable appetite to be great.

“He’s relentless at working to try to get better,” Monroe said. “He just has the mentality and the focus. He’s chasing greatness, that’s the first step and he attacks it. He attacks everything he does, whether it’s weights, working on his game, practice. That’s just who he is.”

Perhaps appropriately, Antetokounmpo’s improvement is coming in leaps and bounds rather than small steps. Here are his scoring averages for each of his five seasons:

2013-14: 6.8

2014-15: 12.7

2015-16: 16.9

2016-17: 22.9

2017-18: 29.7

His rebounding rate has also accelerated quickly, from 4.4 as a rookie to 10.3 this season.

“He keeps getting better,” interim Suns coach Jay Triano said. “His skill-set as good as it was, it’s just going to get more polished with experience and playing as much as he does.”

Triano compared Antetokounmpo with New York Knicks’ 7-foot-3 center Kristaps Porzingis in that both have freakish athleticism for their size and are prototypes of where the league is headed.

“They have a body type that’s not natural for what they’re able to do,” Triano said. “They’re great athletes and they have the ability to shoot over the top at their size. It’s the way the league is going. You try to find those kinds of players.”

The Bucks found him. Wednesday, he’s the Suns’ problem.

“He’s an MVP candidate right now and from what I saw he’ll definitely be in the (conversation) for the next decade or so,” Monroe said. “That’s just the kind of player he is.”

Injury update

Jared Dudley (knee) is listed as doubtful for the Suns. Milwaukee will be without guard Matthew Dellavedova (knee), center John Henson (eye) and forward Mirza Teletovic, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday.

Wednesday's game

Bucks at Suns

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena

TV/radio: FSAZ/KTAR-FM 98.7

Update: The Bucks are 4-2 since acquiring point guard Eric Bledsoe from the Suns but they’ve lost their past two games, including a 32-point blowout at Dallas on Saturday. Bledsoe is averaging 13.3 points and four assists per game but is shooting just 37.5 percent from the field and 21.1 percent from 3-point range. The Suns have won two straight.